Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves!
Uwe Lätsch, Finfio: Hi, I’m Uwe Lätsch (39, product development & management), and my colleague Dariusz Borowski (47, software development & architecture) and I are the founders of the retirement planning startup Finfio.de. We met and came to appreciate one another at our former workplace, Check24 Finanzen. We now have many years of experience in the fields of fintech, insurtech and software development. So it would only seem logical for us to want to found our own company in this area.
After conducting more than 200 user interviews in the fields of finance and retirement planning, we started thinking about how there still isn’t a good, comprehensive solution with a specific retirement roadmap for end consumers that allows them to make their own financial decisions for old age.
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Uwe Lätsch: With Finfio, we’re developing a new retirement planning platform that offers simple assistance for people to start planning for retirement. One out of six average earners in Germany haven’t made any provisions for their retirement, and among low-wage workers, it’s only one out of three!
Finfio as navigation for retirement planning procrastinators
People unfortunately tend to constantly put off retirement planning, which is why we’re developing intelligent software that makes it possible for even the most inexperienced, finance-shy users to implement medium to long-term retirement planning on their own. We automatically create a free retirement plan that is custom tailored to the user and their current situation, with clear step-by-step instructions. This allows us to navigate retirement planning procrastinators through the deep financial jungle and to show them “the whole range” of options for securing their retirement.
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Uwe Lätsch: It is, because the current solutions are either what are known as finance management apps, which only help with short-term savings and optimized spending, but not with saving for old age and the all-important wealth building. Or you have isolated solutions for individual retirement planning options, such as trading, robo-advisors, insurance, conventional retirement savings, real estate and so on. Comprehensive retirement planning for private households covers all of these different retirement planning options and requires a medium- to long-term view of planning. The expert recommendation is to spread the risk of each of these individual activities, which is exactly what we do for our users.
Instantly create a personal retirement plan
Our idea: comprehensive and independent retirement planning software that’s easy for absolutely any consumer to use on their own to create a personal retirement plan in just a few minutes.
Munich Startup: Was there a point when you nearly failed?
Uwe Lätsch: Having very little time available and the time management that came along with that, especially in the early phase, was one of the biggest challenges we had to face. By the time we had our proof of concept, we had conducted more than 200 user interviews and had put in some night shifts. At the same time, we were seriously motivated by the idea of promoting retirement planning, because we realized that we were responding to a major customer request and to a current problem in terms of time and generations.
The two of us founders fortunately already have a lot of experience in building financial technology, MVPs and specifically in product and software development. That puts us in a very diversified position, and our hands-on mentality and agile mindset have made it easy for us to get started and never come to a standstill.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, and where in five years?
Uwe Lätsch: In one year, after an initial family & friends test stage, we would like to have successfully gone live. In the medium term, our focus is on rescuing retirement for the average consumer and on the related building of private wealth.
Basic financial security in old age for everyone
Our vision is, with help from our retirement planning technology, to ensure basic financial security in old age for everyone. We already know that the government plan isn’t enough and that a large gap might emerge. We would like to help our users so they’re at ease when thinking about their retirement. Our goal is to offer people the highest possible level of financial security and freedom long before it’s time for them to retire. We encourage and motivate people to start planning for retirement right now and to build proper financial assets!
Munich Startup: What do you think about Munich as a startup location?
Uwe Lätsch: We’re very happy to be building a startup here in Munich. We not only have an extraordinary network in the city already, but also beyond the city limits as well. We have and continue to receive a great deal of support from that network. Thanks to our career paths, we’ve been able to meet many experts in various industries: finance, insurance, marketing and sales, and in venture capital as well. Coaching from advisors and experienced business angels in addition to communication with industry experts has also helped us.
Munich Startup: Quick exit or staying power?
Uwe Lätsch: For now, we’re learning along with our users and based on their wants and needs. That’s how we’re developing the first retirement planning solution that genuinely focuses on the customer. With it, we’ll close many people’s pension gaps. We want to prove our business model with it, because we only make money when our users increase their money and plan for retirement! In addition to other options for retirement planning, one of our major goals is to whet our users’ appetites for real estate purchases for retirement planning by presenting the advantages. We would like to give retirement planning avoiders simple tools so they can finally take care of their finances themselves and stop putting it off.
For the future, we’re also considering international expansion and growth in all lines of business that have been successfully tested. Our technology makes it possible for us, as the only company in the market so far, to expand to 17 other European countries. We’re also actively communicating with the finance industry and experts, since several companies have already taken notice of us. In addition to the retirement problem that already exists, there’s also the dying off of bank branches and the lack of consultation services that goes along with it. This gives rise to opportunities and prospects for us, such as offering our solution for B2B. We still have a lot planned and want to make a difference, so we’re not thinking about an exit yet.